Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of industrial automation systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods for visualizing detected errors and diagnostics in the field of industrial automation systems.
Industrial automation systems are managed and operated using automation control and monitoring systems. A wide range of applications exist for automation control and monitoring systems, particularly in industrial automation settings. Such applications may include the powering of a wide range of actuators, such as valves, electric motors, and so forth, and the collection of data via sensors. Typical automation control and monitoring systems may include one or more components, such as: programming terminals, automation controllers, input/output (I/O) modules, and/or human-machine interface (HMI) terminals.
The human machine interfaces or “HMIs” are commonly employed for monitoring or controlling various processes. HMIs may be employed in numerous different settings, such as in automobiles, aircraft, commercial settings, and a host of other applications. The HMIs may read from or write to specific registers such that they can reflect the operating state of various machines, sensors, processes, and so forth. As such, the HMIs may display valuable information on HMI screens such that operators can sufficiently manage the industrial automation system.
Conventional methods for depicting errors on HMI screens include displaying empty graphical fields on the HMI screens. The empty graphical fields may result when data objects that correspond to the graphical fields are empty, corrupt, inaccessible, or invalid. As such, the empty graphical fields may generally indicate that an error exists with the corresponding data objects. Alternatively, errors may be depicted in the HMI screens via a text box that shows free-running text of each error as they occur. In some traditional systems, these errors are also recorded in a historical error log that describes each error and provides a time stamp that indicates when the corresponding error occurred. These conventional methods for depicting errors may indicate to an HMI user that an error exists within the industrial automation system. However, it is now recognized that certain traditional systems may provide the HMI user with incorrect information (i.e., misinformation), provide inadequate annunciation, provide inefficient means for interpreting and resolving errors, and so forth. Accordingly, improved systems and methods for error detection and visualization are desirable.